A Brazilian novelist and short story writer, Verissimo came to the US during World War II to teach at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1953 to 1956 he was director of the Department of Cultural Affairs at the Organization of American States in DC.

Verissimo was the author of 14 novels, including Clarissa (1933), Olhai os Lírios do Campo (Behold the Lilies of the Field, 1938), and O Senhor Embaixador (His Excellency, the Ambassador, 1965). He also published children's literature, travelogues, essays, biographies, and memoirs, and translated novels from English to Portuguese, including works by Aldous Huxley, John Steinbeck, and Somerset Maugham. His best known work is the historical trilogy O Tempo e o Vento (The Time and the Wind, 1949-1961). His time in the United States was the basis of his books Gato Preto em Campo de Neve ("Black Cat in a Snow Field" and A Volta do Gato Preto ("The Return of the Black Cat"). His son, the novelist Luís Fernando Veríssimo, also lived in this house as a child.